What Kind of Church Do We Want to Be? (Part 2)

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 3.

1 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

We're beginning, or continuing, I should say rather, our series.

We started last week's three-part series about what kind of church do we want to be.

Let me go back for those of you who weren't here last week and just kind of set the stage.

I'll do that very, very briefly.

Paul is on his second missionary journey.

He is in Philippi and he leads the Philippians to the Lord.

Suffers great persecution, has to flee the city, goes ultimately to Thessalonica.

There in Thessalonica, he shows up at the synagogue and he begins to preach.

And he does that for three consecutive Sabbaths as they gather for worship.

A number of those people hear the gospel, respond in faith to what he said.

And they establish friendships and they begin growing in their faith.

Three weeks, though, after his arrival, suddenly persecution is about to take off in Paul's life in the church.

Some of the folk who have come to be a part of this church, they come to Paul and they say,

Paul, you need to flee for your life.

And so he flees and he goes to the next city.

And as we read in 1 Thessalonians, he desires to get back to them because he's concerned about them.

He wonders what's happening to them.

Have they continued in the faith they have first embraced or have they fallen by the wayside?

And so he'd make several attempts to go back.

And he says in these first two chapters that Satan continually hinders him from being able to go back.

So in chapter 3, verse 1, when he says he can stand it no longer, he's just beside himself, worried about these folk,

he sends Timothy, says, Timothy, leave me, go back and check on those folk in Thessalonica.

He goes and checks on them.

When he comes back, you read about that in verses 6 through 10 of the third chapter.

And basically what he finds is this.

These folk are doing fine, even in the absence of leadership.

These people are growing in their faith.

They're loving one another the way they should.

And so Paul, in chapter 3, verses 11 to 13, that's the portion of this that we're using as our focus during this three-week study.

Paul prays a prayer to these Thessalonians.

And the first part we looked at last week.

Today we look at the second part, the middle part.

What he says in that first part is this.

I'm praying that you will increase in your love.

Timothy's told me you're loving one another, but increase in that.

In fact, increase to the point that it overflows, that it spills over in everything you do.

And then he gives them explicit instructions.

He says, I want you to love those in the church, but also those outside the church.

And we talked about what that looked like.

In fact, the telltale sign, the badge of discipleship for all believers,

should always be our love for folk around us.

Those who we know, those who are in the faith, those who are a part of the family of God,

but also those who are opposed to us.

Those are our enemies.

Those are our neighbors.

Those who don't walk with Christ.

We're to be known as a church that loves.

And I really hope and trust and believe that's what you here at First Baptist Pickens want to do.

You want to emulate what it is to love the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby love the world.

Well, he goes on in the middle of that next verse.

Look at verse 13.

He prays this prayer as well.

May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father.

May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father.

Let's just be honest about it for a moment.

Years and years ago, we heard a lot about holiness, right?

Most of you who were born in the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, you went to church and you heard a whole lot about holiness.

Have you noticed how in the last several decades we've moved away from talking about holiness?

In fact, if we're just absolutely honest about it, that's a word we kind of shy away from in all walks of life.

If your middle schooler shows up tomorrow and the other middle schooler looks at them and says, hey, there's old Holy John.

There's Holy Jane.

There's Holy Sally.

They're not usually perceiving that to be a compliment, right?

And in fact, if you own your job as adults, go in the marketplace, and you overhear people talking, more often than not, sometimes they can say it complimentary.

But more often than not, when that word arises in the marketplace, they're not using it in a complimentary fashion.

And so we kind of shy away from it.

But I want to tell you something.

In the church, we need holiness and purity as much as flowers need sunshine and rain.

And you can never be pleasing unto God and be the church that God intends for you to be unless your life is marked by what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called an inner, hidden holiness of the heart.

I'm not talking about a holiness that you wear on your sleeve.

I'm not talking about a holy roller, so to speak.

I'm talking about a real, genuine, pure, hidden holiness that emerges.

Folk can see it, but you don't wear it on your sleeve.

So I want to just mention a few things about this prayer he prays here.

Let's look at it again.

May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God.

This is going to scare you, but I'm going to say about 13 things about that, okay?

We're not going to be here all afternoon.

I'm going to say them just in real staccato fashion.

In fact, I'm going to read several of them and then make just a brief comment.

But let's just begin.

Here's the first.

The end result is that they be holy and blameless before the Lord with the underscoring of the word be.

The emphasis on the word be.

That's what his ultimate goal is for these believers in Thessalonica.

Not that they act holy, that they be holy.

And there's a difference in those two things, right?

We've seen folk act holy and then we've seen folk be holy.

You've seen folk who give off the image, they're as pure as the new driven snow.

And then you see people in their speech patterns, in their thought patterns, in their lifestyle.

Boy, they live a life that is pure.

Second thing I want you to say is this.

On our own, we are neither holy nor blameless.

I don't want to burst your bubble this morning, but there's a lot wrong with all of us.

Do you know that?

Have you ever noticed that?

Have you ever taken just self-inventory and a long, close look at yourself?

You're no prize, right?

I mean, I'm certainly not.

I would readily admit that about myself.

I'm just no prize.

There's a lot about me that's wrong.

I've sinned many, many, many times in my life.

And I just want you to know, a lot of us in the church give off to the world

that when we became a Christian, we just perfected ourselves.

That we're just not like you because you have sin in your life.

Let's just be straight about it today.

Most of us sin just about every day of our lives.

Do we not?

In fact, you get behind a slow-moving car on your way to work in the morning,

you can sin two or three times before you get to the office, right?

A lot of us struggle with sin on an ongoing, daily basis.

If they could hook one of those GoPros on you

and see everything that you do in a 24-hour period

and hear every word that you speak

and read your mind and demonstrate graphically every thought you have.

Anybody here feel comfortable with us showing that film next week?

I didn't think so.

Because the truth is we project one image of ourselves,

but we know deep down in our heart, mind, and soul,

none of us are as holy and pure and righteous as we seem.

Third thing I want you to see is this.

He asked God to do this because we aren't capable of doing this on our own.

That's his prayer.

He doesn't say, may you be holy and blameless.

May he make you holy and blameless.

So let me just clue you in on something.

You can try all you want to remake yourself,

and we all do that from time to time.

In fact, we get that mistaken notion that's what we do

when we rededicate our lives to the Lord.

We come to the altar, we fall on our knees,

and we say, God, I'm going to do better.

I'm going to do better.

If you're ever going to become holy and blameless before the Lord,

you know what's going to have to happen?

God's going to have to do a work in you.

Because you can't do that on your own.

You've tried that last about three minutes, doesn't it?

Isn't that right?

And you say, I'm going to do better at this,

and then suddenly you don't.

So if it's going to happen,

it's going to happen because God does a work in your life.

Fourthly, this process that we're talking about,

wherein God does a work of grace in our lives,

it is called sanctification.

Big, long theological word.

You've seen it in your scripture.

It's actually a biblical word.

One you might want to write down in your notes

in the side of this margin of this verse

because that's what he's talking about.

He's saying, I hope God will do a work of sanctification in your life.

Now let me tell you about this work of sanctification.

It begins at the moment of conversion.

Salvation is an ongoing process.

We have been saved, but we are also being saved.

And we will be saved.

Do you understand that?

Conversion is a one-moment experience.

You are converted when you come to know Christ as Savior,

not when you come and take a preacher's hand,

shake his hand, even sit and pray a prayer that he leads you in.

You are saved the moment you hear the gospel.

It makes sense to you.

And you say, I want that.

I want God to save me.

Before you ever get up out of your seat,

before you ever pray a prayer,

you are converted the moment you've turned to God in your mind and heart

and say, God, I need you.

At that very moment, you're converted.

What happens is a miracle.

The Holy Spirit of God moves into your life.

He takes a person who is dead in their trespasses and sins,

and he quickens them, he brings them to life.

They're regenerated and they are saved, born again,

any of those terms you want to use at that moment in time.

At that moment in time, the Holy Spirit who comes in

begins a process in you known as sanctification.

That process of sanctification ends in glorification.

You take your last breath.

This is a one-time, instant-happening event.

You are made like Jesus.

That occurs when you die.

Everything from death, physical, to death, spiritual,

when you invited Christ into your heart,

that's this process we call sanctification.

The goal of sanctification, the Spirit of God is doing this in your life,

Romans 8, 28.

He's using everything that occurs, the good, the bad, the ugly,

that which you lack to see happen, that which you didn't want to happen.

He's using all those events to mold you and to fashion you

into the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But that doesn't perfectly culminate until your death

and you are glorified in the presence of God.

Sanctification is a lifelong process.

Sanctification is a lifelong process.

Both our hearts, and this is so important, get this,

and our habits and our thoughts are being changed.

Some folk think falsely that sanctification is just me changing my habits.

But it's not.

And some people get the mistaken idea

that sanctification is just my mind and heart being changed

and it doesn't matter so much about my habits.

And both of those thoughts, that way of thinking, is wrong.

Let me just tell you, if our hearts appear to have changed,

I've got a new heart, a new spirit about me,

but my actions don't,

then I've not really genuinely repented.

And Bonhoeffer, the World War II theologian,

Bonhoeffer would say that where there is no real confession and repentance,

there's no salvation.

So it's not enough that my heart and mind change,

but my actions don't.

The evidence that my heart has really changed

is that my actions change in the fashion of my heart.

You understand that?

The next thing I want to tell you is this.

If my habits change,

and this is the real danger in many churches,

if my habits change but my heart doesn't,

our holiness is a mere act.

And I'm more interested in pleasing men

than I am in pleasing God.

And I want to tell you,

I've witnessed that many, many times in churches.

Somebody's going through a rough spot in their marriage

and they say,

this life's not working,

I've got to change my ways.

And so they go forward and they say,

I want to receive Christ as my Savior.

And guess what?

They are afraid their marriage is going to end

or there's something falling apart in their life.

They're afraid of a lot of things.

And they say this,

I'm going to quit using preparerity.

And I'm going to quit drinking.

And I'm going to quit smoking.

All those things that we think about as being sick.

I'm going to quit this.

I'm going to quit that.

And I'll quit doing this.

And I'll start going to church.

And I'll attend Sunday school.

And I'll give some money to the church.

And I'll do all these things.

And all their outward habits change.

And people say,

boy, that guy has cleaned up his life.

And he appears to.

But the problem is this.

His heart never changed.

And he's still just as mean and nasty on the inside

as he ever was on the outside before that happened.

And you've seen folk like that, right?

You've seen them in church.

You just wonder,

how can they be a Christian

because they do all these good things

and they don't do anything morally wrong.

But why do they mean as a rattlesnake?

Jesus wasn't mean.

Jesus wasn't cruel.

Jesus wasn't hurtful.

But boy, they're just mean-spirited.

And when a man's heart doesn't change,

but his outward actions do change,

I'm going to tell you something.

That's a guy who's wanting to impress people

and not God.

And there's a real problem

when that occurs.

Genuine holiness.

Listen to this.

It is the result of God changing our nature

and making our choices,

making the choice rather.

He is leading us to make in life.

That's how sanctification works.

How real holiness works.

God changes my mind and heart.

And as a result of that,

he begins to speak to me,

here's how you ought to be living.

And so as a desire to please him

because I'm grateful for what he's done in my life,

I listen to that voice.

I don't rebuke that voice.

I don't walk away from that voice.

I obey that voice.

And I begin as a result to be holy.

Sanctification leads to purity.

You need to get this.

And not perfection.

Sanctification leads to purity,

but it doesn't lead to perfection.

And I want to tell you,

sometimes we mistakenly think that in the church

and even teach that in the church

and communicate to those outside the church.

And that's why people who look at the church

oftentimes think,

what a bunch of phonies and hypocrites.

Because you see,

we look at them

and we kind of convey this message

that I'm just a little bit better than you

because I don't smoke

and I don't drink

and I don't do all these things.

And I'm just a cut above you.

But they look at us

in those low moments in our life

where we give way to that old nature within us

and they see us sin

and they go,

huh,

he's just like me.

And you know the message

we ought to be communicating

to the world all the time?

I am just like you.

I am just like you.

I am a sinner.

I'm capable of everything

you're capable of.

The difference is this,

the grace of God

has come into my life

and he's forgiven my sin.

It's not that I'm a sinner.

We pretend sometimes to the world

that we're not sinners

and we are

and we all know we are

and we ought to be saying that to them.

But the message of the gospel is

through God's mercy

we've been redeemed.

We've been forgiven, right?

But any of you perfect in this room?

We're not perfect.

Sanctification doesn't lead to perfection.

Glorification will.

But in this life,

we're just not perfect.

Genuine purity begins in our hearts.

Listen to this.

Permeates our minds.

Captures our wills and attitude.

Flows from our lips.

Impacts our choices

and treatment of other people.

That's what happens

when God begins to do a work in my life.

He begins by changing my mind.

He permeates my mind.

He permeates my heart.

It impacts my attitudes

and my actions

and my speech.

And He takes over every aspect of my life.

Genuine purity,

this is important,

is not simply adhering to dress,

speech,

or moral codes.

It is a response of gratitude

and obedience

made to please

a loving and gracious God.

one last thing I want to say

about this holiness

and then I'm going to press on to something else.

Unfortunately,

many of us

are better at acting

holy

than we are at

being holy.

Put the picture on the screen

if you will.

You recognize that gal?

I can remember

back when they

really

made this pretty famous

Dana Carvey

came up with this skit

The Church Lady.

It was on Saturday Night Live.

I never saw it.

I went to bed early.

I would have seen it

but I just

I couldn't stay up that late

and preach on Sunday mornings.

But I want to tell you

when he came out

with that skit

it just went

in

not the way they taught them

but now

it went viral, right?

Everybody

knew The Church Lady

and everybody

broke up

over The Church Lady.

Aren't you special?

Right?

Remember when he did that?

And a lot of church folk

got offended by it.

I remember the first time

I thought of it

making fun of the church.

And then I began to watch

and I tell you something

it was funny.

You know why it was funny?

It was funny to Americans

everywhere

because they have all

met The Church Lady.

That's right.

I don't mean they met

Dana Carvey.

They met him in real life.

There's one just about

in every church.

The Church Lady, right?

Sometimes it's the church man

not the Church Lady.

Just as many men out there

like that as there are women.

But you know what I'm

talking about.

They just walk on a

little higher plane

than all the rest of us,

don't they?

They're just a little

holier.

It's not that they

always condemn

but they just always

condescend.

Isn't that right?

They're just a little bit

up here

and you're kind of

down here.

The deal is

it's not that they've

mastered the art

of holiness

or purity.

They've mastered

in their mind

the art of

appearing holy

and appearing

pure.

And you and I

both know

from real life

experience

boy there's a

real difference

in that.

When you really

are pure

and holy

can I tell you

something?

You'll be tempted

to gossip

when you hear

the folk

in the office

place doing that

but you'll hear

this voice

that says

that's not

Christ-like.

You'll back

away from that

and you'll be

driving down

the road

and that guy

will do that

thing that makes

you so angry

and you'll be

tempted to

set down the

horn or to

say something

to him that

you shouldn't

and guess what?

You hear the

spirit of God

within you

and say you

know what?

That wouldn't

be Christ-like.

He loved me

when

I was just

crazy as this

guy.

And you back

away from that.

That's the

evidence of

real purity

and holiness

is when the

spirit of God

prompts you

and you listen

to it

and you say

I'm not going

to go there.

You don't jump

up and cut

off the TV

when the pastor

knocks at the door

and you see him

through the glass

because you don't

want him to see

you watching

whatever it is

you're watching.

You get up

when the pastor

is not at your

front door

and you cut

off the TV

because you

know you

say to yourself

that's just

not something

I need to see.

That's not

going to make

me more

Christ-like.

You don't

need somebody

beating you

over the head

with a list

of rules

and regulations

and saying

do this

and don't

do that

and you're

okay.

When I was

a kid

you know

what Baptists

thought by and

large?

You couldn't

drink.

You couldn't

smoke.

I'm not saying

you should do

those things

now.

But this

was how we

looked at

holiness.

You shouldn't

drink.

You shouldn't

smoke.

You shouldn't

curse.

You shouldn't

go to the

movies.

You shouldn't

fish on Sundays.

You shouldn't

eat out.

You shouldn't

we had a long

list of

shouldn'ts right?

You shouldn't

play cards.

You can't do

this.

I knew a lady

one time.

She was from

another denomination

and she was

a hairstylist

and this

pastor's wife

who was of

that same

denomination

would come

see her on

Saturday night

and she would

say would you

trim my hair

just a half

an inch or

an inch

get the dead

ends off.

Just about

every other

week she'd

do that.

Because in

that particular

denomination

at that time

they wore

their hair

way up here.

And you

know why?

I asked

one time.

I was a

teenager and

I was over

at her house

and I said

why do all

you wear it

so high?

And she

said because

we're not

supposed to

cut our

hair.

And I

thought but

your hair

having your

hair cut.

Yeah but not

so much

anybody can

tell.

And I'm

17 years

old and I'm

thinking to

myself so it

really doesn't

matter if you

have your

hair cut just

so nobody

tells you have

your hair cut.

Right?

You see how

crazy that is?

Now we see

that as Baptists

because most of

us don't wear

hair cut and we

laugh at it but

don't taste it.

We do just as

stupid things as

that.

Where we think we

can make ourselves

look holy by

following this

long list of

regulations and

guidelines.

Don't make us

holy.

You are holy

from what comes

out of your

heart.

You understand

that?

Because you

have a heart

for Jesus and

you say I

want to be

obedient to

Christ and I

don't impure it

in my life.

It doesn't mean

you won't mess

up.

You will mess

up.

But you

immediately confess

it to God and

get right with

Him again.

That's what real

genuine holiness

looks like.

I want you to

look with me to

Thessalonians chapter

4 the very next

chapter.

I want to read

quickly eight

verses.

Verses one

through eight.

Finally then

brothers we ask

and encourage you

in the Lord

Jesus that you

have received

from us.

You must walk

and please God

as you are

doing.

Do so even

more.

For you know

what commands

we gave you

through the Lord

Jesus.

This is God's

will, your

sanctification, that

you abstain from

sexual immorality

so that each one

of you knows how

to possess his own

vessel in

sanctification and

honor.

Not with lustful

desires like the

Gentiles who do

not know God.

This means one

must not transgress

against and defraud

his brother in this

matter because the

Lord is an avenger of

all these offenses as

we also previously

told and warned you.

For God has not

called us to impurity

but to sanctification.

Therefore the person

who rejects this does

not reject man but

God who also gives

you his spirit.

Paul has prayed

two things for

these people.

That they increase

in love and

overflow in love

because he knows

unless you do that

the world is not

going to believe

your testimony.

That's how Jesus

lived.

That's how you all

live as ambassadors

of Christ.

But then he

follows it up by

this.

You have to

authenticate the

message you're

declaring and the

way you do that is

by living as holy

and pure as

Jesus was.

And that's why he

prays I pray you

will be blameless

in holiness when

you stand before

our God.

Now some of you

most of you

probably won't but

some of you will

recall I said last

week when I began

this series I've

got two expert

witnesses or two

expert folk I'm

going to bring and

let you hear what

they have to say

about how do you

really do church

right.

Right.

And we've been

looking at Paul

and Paul says I'm

praying that you

will increase in

love and overflow

and I'm praying

that you will be

holy and blameless.

Let's bring up our

second expert James.

Remember that?

James the pastor

of the church in

Jerusalem.

Now I'm just going

to point out one

verse that James

gives us because it

is an incredibly

great great great

verse.

If you have your

Bibles turn with me

to the book of

James chapter 1

James 1 · chapter mention

and let's just read

one thing he says

in verse 27.

You ready?

In fact let's go

back and read verse

26 because it ties

to it.

Verse 26 and 27.

Here we go.

If anyone thinks

he is religious

without controlling

his tongue but

deceiving his heart

his religion is

useless.

Now listen to

what he says.

I love this.

Pure and undefiled

religion.

Just look up a

minute.

Have you ever

wondered about

that phrase?

Pure and undefiled

religion.

What is true

spirituality,

true religion

really like?

You ever wonder

when you go into

church?

Is this what it

really should be?

Is this what real

spirituality looks

like or we

convinced ourselves

this looks the way

it should?

But is it really?

Well here's what he

says.

Pure religion and

undefiled religion

before our God and

Father is this.

And guess what?

He's going to say

two things.

To look after

orphans and

widows in their

distress and to

keep oneself

unstained by the

world.

Wow.

Paul says I'm

praying for you

guys to be two

things.

To be loving and

that you'll be

holy.

And James says

you know what

real religion is

like?

I mean real

true religion

cutting all the

phony baloney

out of it and

look at the real

heart of the

matter.

Here's what it

is.

To take care of

widows and

orphans.

Now why would he

say that?

What does that

mean?

I want to ask

you.

Who are the

most vulnerable

people on the

planet?

Aren't they the

youngest and the

oldest?

And especially the

youngest who have

no one to care for

them.

They're orphans.

They've lost their

mother and their

father.

How are they going

to support

themselves?

They don't have

a means of income.

When you're talking

about orphans,

you're talking about

the most vulnerable,

the most in my

opinion,

vulnerable people on

all of God's

earth because they're

children.

They can't protect

themselves physically,

can't protect

themselves emotionally,

can't protect

themselves mentally,

intellectually.

People can take

advantage of them.

They don't have a

means of support.

James said, you

want to know what

real religion looks

like?

That you've got a

heart to take care

of the orphans.

the most easily

persecuted, put

down, offended

people on the face

of the earth.

And widows.

And who are these

widows?

Paul's already told

us in Timothy, when

it comes to widows,

you know who you take

care of first?

Not all the widows,

but the widows who

have no children.

These elderly ladies

or men, as the case

might be, who've lost

their spouse, and

they don't have

children.

Who's more vulnerable

than that other

than these orphans?

I mean, folks who

are on limited

income, they don't

have anybody to help

them, they're getting

older, life's harder,

there are more

difficulties on them.

You know what he's

saying?

He's saying the same

thing that Paul said.

He's emphasizing that

we love one another.

I want you to take

care of those who

others have forgotten,

who've cast aside

who ostracize, who

are the beaten

down, the helpless.

He's talking about

loving people.

True religion is that

you lie folk, that

you just pour yourself

out in loving other

folk.

Then he says this, and

let me add one thing

he says, that you

keep yourself undefiled,

some translations have

it, unspotted, other

translations have it.

You know the

translation I like best

because it uses a

modern word?

Unpolluted.

You keep yourself

unpolluted from the

world.

Well, I don't know

about you, but that

speaks to my heart in

the culture in which

we're living because I'm

going to tell you

something.

They're doing

everything they can in

our culture to pollute

our minds and our

lifestyles and to tell

us that that which God

has always said is

wrong is right and that

which we have said is

right is wrong.

Isn't that true?

So, James says, boy,

you're going to have to

be real careful if you're

in the church because

pure religion is like

this.

You're living in this

world.

You can't come out of

the world.

You're in the world.

But don't let the world

pollute you.

Now, how does things

get polluted?

Either the contaminant

enters into that which

is pure or that which is

pure passes through

something that is impure

and thereby becomes

contaminated.

Factories have these

chemicals.

They release them into

the stream.

It gets into the water

and the pure water

becomes contaminated.

Or pure water passes

through something, a

stream, there's a dead

animal and it becomes

contaminated.

Or it passes through

rusty pipes, red

zinc and all that and

it becomes contaminated.

Right?

We're living in the

world and the world's

doing everything it can

to contaminate us and

Paul says or James

says don't let that

happen.

You know what?

Same thing Paul said,

just a different way

of saying it.

Be blameless in holiness.

I'm going to show you

one passage we're going

as soon as I read this

passage and then I give

you one illustration.

Go with me to the last

book of the Old Testament,

the book of Malachi.

Look at chapter 1,

verse 6.

A son honors his father

and a servant his master.

Look up and just listen

a minute.

He's just making,

Malachi's just making a

statement that he knows,

everybody knows is

universally true.

He's saying this to the

priest of Judah.

He says a man honors his

father and a servant

honors his master.

We know that.

If I am a father,

where is my honor?

God's talking about

himself.

That's the reason that

pronoun my is

capitalized.

He says so if I'm your

father, why am I not

honored?

And then he says,

and if I am a master,

where is your fear of me?

Why don't you fear me?

Says the Lord.

Yet you ask,

the yet's the priest,

how have we despised

your name?

Can you see these

priests?

God's indicting them.

If I'm your father,

why don't you honor me

as your father?

If I'm your master,

why don't you fear me?

We do fear you.

What do you mean we've

despised your name?

That's the question

they're asking.

How have we despised

your name?

Verse 7,

by presenting defiled

food on my altar,

you ask,

how have we defiled

you?

And then God responds,

when you say the Lord's

table is contemptible,

and then he gives them

an example.

When you present a blind

animal for sacrifice,

is it not wrong?

And when you present a

lame or sick animal,

is it not wrong?

Bring it to your

governor.

He says,

hey,

try that with your

governor,

your political leaders.

Would he be pleased

with you or show you

favor?

Ask the Lord.

Of hosts.

He says,

you see,

you treat me

with disrespect.

Because you come to

my house,

and you say you're

coming to worship me

and honor me,

and guess what you do?

You go into your

herd of sheep,

and you find those

sheep that are blind,

and you come and say,

this will do for God.

It's good enough for Him.

And you offer this

blind sheep,

and you clearly see

what the Levitical law

called for.

It was a sheep

without spot or blemish.

And you get these

sick sheep,

or spotted sheep.

And you know

that's not kosher.

You know you

shouldn't be doing that.

But we can get

away with it.

What's God going to

say about it,

right?

Now just pause

and put that on hold.

I invite you

to my house.

Let's say today

for lunch.

Okay?

You get to my house,

and I say to you,

what would you like

to drink?

You say,

I'd like to have water,

if that's okay.

All right?

And I go to the

refrigerator,

and I pull out this

bottle of water.

I just got to tell you,

there was pure water

in there,

but I put some

contaminants in it.

Okay?

Assume that they got

there because the

bottle was dirty,

maybe.

But you don't have to

be a rocket scientist

to look at this

and know that's not

good water.

Right?

Anybody here want

a sip of this?

I won't tell you

what I contaminated

it with,

but it's contaminated.

You just take my

word for it,

okay?

It's contaminated

water.

So if I set this

in front of you

and say,

here,

have this.

You think you'd

drink it?

You maybe would

say,

have you lost

your mind?

Or if you're

a real plight,

you just say,

hmm,

I'm not too thirsty.

Right?

And you'd never

touch it.

And then you see

me go to the

refrigerator,

and I pull out

these two bottles

of water.

And I give one

to my wife,

and I take one,

and you say,

well,

why didn't he

give me that?

Right?

So I'm going to

tell you,

you can have

one of these,

because they

both contain

nothing but

water.

Okay?

But I've got to

tell you,

one of these,

I've got little

dots on the top.

One of these,

I know,

is clean,

pure water,

just the way

it was packaged.

But the other

one is an empty

bottle that I

filled with water.

Did I tell you

how water went

out the other

day?

So I had to

fill this with

water from

my toilet.

But now,

we keep

clean toilets.

It was clean

a couple weeks

ago.

So here's my

question to you.

You're going to

take a chance

of guessing

which one is

contaminated water,

because it looks

just like the

other one.

It looks exactly

like the other

one.

You won't

come and look

at it,

put it under

my scope,

see any

difference.

They're the

same.

They look the

same.

But we know

this one is

real,

pure,

clean water,

and one of

them is

contaminated

water.

And I want

to tell you

something.

Every one of

us in this

room today,

your life's in

one of these

three shapes.

Either you

can look at it,

and other people

can look at it

and say,

yeah,

that guy's not

holy.

that's

contaminated

water.

Or,

you're like

one of these.

One looks like

the real

article,

because it's

pure and

clean,

and it's

good for you

to drink.

But the

other,

I got news

for you,

it just

looks that

way.

It's not

really clean.

But here's

what the

sad thing

is,

every week

when we

come to

church,

a lot

of us,

we just

put that

up there,

and we're

okay with

it,

because it

looks clean.

I mean,

nobody can

tell.

I can't

tell.

He's your

pastor.

I can't

tell.

Ryan can't

tell.

You can't

tell about

us.

But I'll

tell you,

God always

knows.

He always

knows.

He looks

and He

knows what's

the real

deal.

Whether there's

real holiness

and purity,

and He

knows where

it's not.

And I'm

going to

tell you

something.

If you

want anything

for your

church in

the days

to come,

you need

to be

concerned about

getting a

pastor,

but more

than anything

else,

you need

to be

concerned.

We're a

church that

loves,

really,

genuinely

loves.

Let me

just say

that we

really love

other people.

And secondly,

that we're

holy.

That we're

pure.

Not that

kind of flashy

holiness that

you wear on

your sleeve,

that calls

attention to

yourself,

that says,

look at me,

how holy I

am,

but that

kind of

holiness that

results in

integrity and

character of

life and

loves people

and is

honest and

is godly and

is pure and

who does the

right thing

because it

doesn't matter

who's looking

other than

God.

I'm doing

this because I

know God's

looking.

And that's all

it has to be,

just know that

He's looking.

That's all that

matters.

So I don't

have to brag

about the

holiness.

I don't have

to put it on

display for

anybody.

You don't

have to show

it off for

anybody.

Now,

of course,

if I tell you,

asking you

this,

that kind of

holiness you

got today.

I haven't

been here long,

but I've been

here three

months and

long enough to

know this.

You're a

sweet,

wonderful people

and I love

you.

You can

believe I'm

just saying

that.

It's the

truth.

I've told

everybody I

know I

love

first pick

and

if I was

a young

guy,

I'd be

putting my

name in

that pile.

I love

this church.

But I've

come to find

this out

about you.

be demonstrative

about what's

going on in

your life

spiritually.

And that's

okay.

That's okay.

You don't

have to

respond to

every invitation.

You don't

have to go

and stand

at the

altar all

the time.

But I'm

going to

tell you

what is

important.

You do

business

with God.

You be

honest with

God.

And you

know today

which of

these two

bottles you

are.

And if

you're that

one that

looks holy,

you're

going to

pass the

test.

The eye

test.

And I'm

going to

tell you

something.

You need

to be doing

some business

with God

right now

because if

you want

your church

to be the

church it

needs to

be, you

need to

be people

who genuinely

are holy.

And I

don't know

that about

you anymore

than you

know it

about me.

I could be

a fake

and a phony

and you

wouldn't tell

it just by

listening to

me preach.

But you

know about

you and I

know about

me and

you're going

to have to

ask,

am I the

real deal?

Am I what

God wants

me to be?

And if

not, right

now is a

good time

to make

that right.

And it

begins by

just doing

this.

God, I'm

sorry, I've

been more

concerned about

what people

think than

you think.

And I want

you to change

that.

I want you to

do it.

I can't do

it.

I'm just

too big a

sinner.

But I'm

asking you to

do a work

in me.

I'm asking

you to

shape my

heart, change

my thinking,

change my

attitudes.

change.

I want to

be the real

deal for

you.

We're going

to have

Brian come

and sing

one verse

of an

invitation.

Maybe you

need to get

up and come

and just

kneel somewhere

along the

surface.

Maybe you

just right

there at your

seat, just

kneel.

Maybe you

just stay

seated or

be seated

after we

stand.

But I

urge you to

do business

with God.

Let's

stand as we

hear Brian

sing this

hymn of

invitation.

Join

him if

you'd like

to.

Bye.

Bye.